I am not perfect, far from it! My family will attest. 🙂
Maybe you are hesitant to start playing the game because there is so much to know and so much to keep track of. You are right; there is!
But even if you aren’t perfect, even if you make mistakes during the year, miss opportunities, or leave money on the table, you will still be doing better than before. And I promise you will get better as you go.
I still make mistakes, and I kept track of them in 2023 so I could share them with you. 🙂 Here are the ones that I remember…
1. I paid to check a bag on Delta on 12/31, trying to use up my 2023 $200 Amex incidental credit, the charge didn’t post till 1/1/24, i didn’t get the credit.
2. I let Rob’s Delta Companion Pass expire. I posted about this one.
3. I accidentally ordered Rob an additional Citi AAdvantage Executive card for $175 even though he got his own card too. (We got 100k bonuses). I didn’t realize it till I was billed for the $175.
4. I got Rob and I BOA Alaska Airlines cards with 70K bonuses each. I spent the $3k for the bonus on his card, but for some reason, I forgot that it was $3k and (thought it was $1k) when i started spending on my card. When months went by without me getting the bonus, I finally called. And they told me that I didn’t reach the minimum spend. They wouldn’t budge! Ugh, this one really hurt.
5. I bought something at Saks late last year and waited and waited and waited for my $50 credit, only to realize I used it earlier in the year.
6. I had two rooms at the Park Hyatt Bangkok this past December, but I forgot to make the other one a Guest of Honor reservation whereby that room would have also gotten free breakfast with my Globalist status. Instead we just had 2 free breakfasts for the 5 of us. Grrr.
7. I took advantage of an Amex offer with my Platinum card that was supposed to be $ off for a Hilton stay. I used my Platinum to pay for my stay this past fall in San Diego. The credit never came. When i finally reached out to Amex, they directed me to the terms in which the offer was only for certain Hilton brands, not mine! What a waste of a hotel charge, on my Platinum!
8. I never used a $50 travel credit on United. It expired.